Massive show of strength at farmers’ mahapanchayat
Farm leaders say they will take movement against the 3 laws to entire country and seek a legal guarantee on MSP on crops
MUZAFFARNAGAR: Hundreds of thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra gathered for a kisan mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, months ahead of assembly polls in the first three states, demanding that the central government roll back three contentious farm laws passed by Parliament a year ago.
Addressing the event organised by protesting farmers’ umbrella body Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the Morcha would take the movement against the three farm laws to the entire country and seek a legal guarantee on minimum support prices for crops.
Speaking in Bengaluru, Union minister Anurag Thakur said the central government not only increased the MSP and procurement but also built more mandis and is working towards increasing the income of the farmers. He said the Centre held discussions with farm union leaders on the new laws but no consensus could be reached because of their hard stance.
“Senior ministers of the government of India held not one but 11 rounds of meetings with farmers. Detailed discussions were held on the issue,” he said.
Tikait called upon farmers to “keep their tractors ready as they could be needed any time”.
“These meetings will be held across the country. We have to stop the country from getting sold. Farmers should be saved, the country should be saved; businesses, employees and youth should be saved — that is the aim.” “The struggle for independence continued for 90 years, so I have no idea for how long this movement will go on,” he said. On the issue of further discussions with the government, Tikait said: “We will go when the central government invites us for talks.”
Invoking communal amity, he raised the slogan “Allahu Akbar” from the stage and the participants responded with “Har Har Mahadev”. He said his father Mahendra Singh Tikait often used these two slogans from the stage to infuse a joint sense of purpose. “They will divide but we will unite people,” he said, hitting out at the ruling BJP.
Underlining the political significance of the event, Tikait said “Mission UP” had begun with the mahapanchayat.
He criticised the recently announced monetisation scheme and accused the BJP government of selling the country’s assets. “This will lead to an acute crisis of employment for the youth,” he said, adding that it was getting difficult for farmers to protect their land and crops.
Only khap chaudharis (clan leaders) and farmer leaders were allowed to share the stage at the mahapanchayat from which leaders of political parties were kept away. Morcha leaders Yogendra Yadav, Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh Chadhuni, Balbeer Singh Rajewal, Satnam Singh, and social activist Medha Patkar were among those who addressed the gathering.
BJP MP Varun Gandhi described farmers as “our own flesh and blood” and suggested that the government should re-engage with them. His remarks drew support from RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) asked the Centre to accept the demands of farmers who have been protesting for nearly nine months against the three farm laws. BSP spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria supported the mahapanchayat and said it is a democratic right of every citizen to hold a peaceful protest.
Large langars (free food stalls) were organised to feed the crowds that started forming by 9am. Muslim volunteers could be seen distributing food and water to people.
Raghunath Singh, a farmer, said: “At the end of the day we are all farmers and we have shared economic interests. The protest has made people realise that.” Farmers said the problem of stray cattle damaging crops, pending cane payment dues, and heavy power bills were their other big worries.